Could Have Said More
by Nodolfin
Summary: Eren is a hothead, and Mikasa is overprotective. Even trying to get a simple job done proves to be a difficult task. Somehow. EreMika oneshot. T for language, because I'm paranoid about the rating system


**So here goes my first SnK fic. I hope people like it, and stuff. Hey, if you guys don't, I do, so more for me! Enjoy!**

**This takes place around chapter 54-55ish (I hope I'm remembering that right, please don't eat me if I'm not)**

**(Get it)**

**(Cause Titans eat people)**

**(Sorry)**

**Could Have Said More**

* * *

"You need help with those crates."

The thing that frustrated Eren most about Mikasa's offer to help was that it wasn't even an offer. It was a statement. An observation. Like she knew it all already and was just conceding to his pointless effort. She had walked out of the doorway to the mountain lodge and just stared at him for a bit before even saying anything. But today seriously wasn't the day to be doing that.

"No, I don't. Captain Levi already gave you things to do, so go and do them." An irritated twitch combined with the dismissive tone would normally have made anyone else give up trying to help before they even started, especially when it came to Eren. But then again, when it came to Eren, there was always that one girl that refused to leave him be.

"I finished cleaning the windows and polishing the bed frames like he asked." There she goes again, Eren thought to himself. _"Stating things like I'm stupid."_

Of course, she wasn't trying to, she was just replying. Eren had been on edge lately though, and his mind tended to warp things when he didn't pay enough attention to the subtext.

"Then go and ask if you have anything else to do." Eren said dismissively bending over a large stack of crates in the doorway to the hideout cabin that himself, Mikasa and the rest of Squad Levi were occupying since being branded criminal fugitives by the government. He had cast his Scout Corps jacket to the floor as if it would help any, and was desperately trying to work his fingers underneath the top two crates in front of the doorway, his shaggy brown locks flipping around, framing his frustrated yet determined emerald eyes.

"I already did, he just told me to go see if anyone else needs help." She maintained the same stoic tone, and moved forward and picked up the topmost crate with ease. Eren scowled, quickly grabbing it from her hands. He felt the weight almost immediately, but he didn't give away any impression that he was straining to keep it in his arms.

"Well I don't need help. Go and find somebody else." He spoke through gritted teeth as he tried to shift the weight comfortably in his arms. Mikasa shook her head, her straight black hair moving with the motions of her head and her pale pink lips forming a straight line on her face.

"You can't take all of these supply crates upstairs on your own Eren." She reasoned, moving to take the crate out of Eren's arms which he hastily dropped into the finely cut grass behind him in efforts to stop her getting it. Eren turned back to her, his face pulled into a tense mask of irritation.

"I can damn well try, so quit acting like I'm some sort of five year old and let me do the job that I've been given."

Mikasa sighed a little. "I'm not acting like you're a five year old, I'm just trying to—"

"I don't care what you're trying to do! I just want to get on with my job, so go away!" Eren cut her off, shouting this time. She flinched, and hurt flashed across her features before quickly being replaced with her usual neutral expression.

"Eren, you know I only want to help." She tried again. Eren did know, but he wasn't in the mood to question trying to be reasonable.

"Well you aren't! You're just slowing me down at the moment, so get out of my way!" He felt bad when he saw her recoil again as he yelled at her. She lightly nodded her head, and walked solemnly back into the cabin. But instead of trying to make things right, he just got angrier. Eren made a sort of strangled animal sound, before turning around and gathering the crate into his arms. He defiantly stomped away with a face like thunder back through the door.

Armin observed from nearby. He had been chatting to Sasha, who was still stood next to him. They'd both heard the commotion. She'd paused in eating her evening potato. They both gave each other a look.

"Should we…?" She trailed off while eyeing the cabin. Armin thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

"Yeah, they might appreciate that."

* * *

"_Why can't she just stop treating me like I'm a fucking baby for once?! I want to be of use without her fucking help!" _Eren's expression tightened as he took the first step up the stairs, and he grimaced at the weight he was taking on his legs. But his anger drove him on, and he moved shakily up to the second floor. Levi thought he might say something as he passed the stairs and saw the teenager struggling with the crate, but he just shook his head to himself.

"_Stubborn little shit."_

* * *

Mikasa sat at the table in the little communal room of the cabin, staring at nothingness. Light filtered in through the small rectangular window the lined the top of the wall to her left, catching her night black hair and dancing off its sheen. The faded red scarf was pulled up over her face, covering her trembling lips and ever so slightly twitching nose. Her eyelashes fluttered with their lids under her long fringe as she tried desperately to blink away the bitter sting of hurt, the effort proving fruitless eventually. Mikasa laid her head down in her arms on the table.

"_Why does it always have to be this way? I just want to be able to help him." _She didn't even have the necessary energy to feel particularly upset. After the past week, all she could do was regret trying to help in the first place. She moved to try and envelop herself further in the scarf.

It still smelt of him from when they were younger. Before the Titans.

Things were so much easier then.

When it was just her, Eren, and—

"Mikasa?"

Mikasa shot up in her seat, and coughed hastily to try and disguise her anguish. But then she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see a mop of blonde hair coupled with the innocent eyes and earnest smile of one of her longest friends.

"Hey Armin." She dropped the façade, and leaned back down to put her head in her harms, still facing him. He sat down on the chair next to her, pulling it across the wood floor so that he could sit adjacent her oddly peaceful, yet distressed form.

"Hey. You want to talk about what happened?" Armin leaned in with a friendly tone that managed to sooth her nerves a little. She still turned back to face the opposite wall though.

"I don't know what you mean."

Armin scoffed lightly, and placed his hand back on her shoulder.

"Mikasa. I saw the whole thing. You don't need to play dumb, I'm here to help." The blonde gently pulled her back up to face him, and she sighed heavily.

"C'mon. Tell me what's up." Armin had always been good at sweet talking people, not like she needed the encouragement. Mikasa still tried to hide under the scarf though.

"It's not important. There are more pressing matters at hand than my feelings at the moment." She tried to end it there, but Armin shook his head lightly.

"Not to me right now. As a strategist, I will say that your mental health is extremely important when you consider the kind of stuff we'll have to do soon." He reasoned, nodding his head at her.

"And…?" She prompted his response, and he sighed, a small smile creeping it's way onto his face.

"And as your friend, I care about you deeply and I don't like seeing you depressed like this, duh."

She smiled a little. There was a silence, and Armin waited patiently.

Mikasa drew in a cautious breath.

"I don't think he wants me around anymore."

Armin wasn't fazed.

"Go on." He stated simply.

"He shouts at me constantly, and I can barely hold a conversation with him anymore. He's always so angry, so filled with hatred…I feel like we're growing away from each other but I don't know what to do, because every time I want to talk I say something somehow to make him mad before I can prove to myself that we're still what we used to be. It's been worse since Reiner and Bertholdt captured him, and we nearly got eaten by the titan that ate…"

Her eyes darkened at the memory, but the hatred that filled her was gone far quicker than it came.

"I thought that he was back. I thought that things might be the same again once it was all over after he saved us both, but he still seems to resent me like he did…all this over some stupid crates…" She mumbled, kicking a chair that sat opposite her. Armin had stayed silent, leant back in his chair, taking everything in. She stared down at her hands on the table, and Armin sat forward.

"For someone who shows so little emotion, you can sure be melodramatic." He said, grinning. She looked up at him, one of her eyebrows cocked in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

He seemed to mull over what to say next in his head before continuing.

"What I mean by that is, you're misunderstanding a lot of Eren's erratic behaviour. Part of it is the fact that all the stuff that's happened recently is stressing him, because he knows he's right in the middle of it. However, the main reason he shouts at you constantly isn't that he's trying to push you away, or that he doesn't need you. It's that he's scared that you don't need him."

Mikasa looked even more confused. "Why would he think that? Without Eren, I wouldn't even be alive, much less able to worry about him this way."

"Do you want me to let you in on a little secret?"

Mikasa nodded warily, and Armin cleared his throat.

"Back when we were younger, when you first starting living with Eren. You were all he would talk about to me for a little while. He would always tell me how he was going to protect you, and he wasn't going to ever let anybody hurt you again. That you were coming with us to see the ocean when we he became a soldier. That he could show you how beautiful everything was. I know that he still wants to do that, I know that he still wants you there, but you've grown up so much since them, going from clearing away bullies to Titans. Eren feels like he's useless, like he can't protect you anymore. Like he's failed. And when you offer help and when you try to protect him, it just undermines him, and makes him feel even worse, even though you're just trying to help." Armin gestured towards the pile of crates that sat collected outside the front door, still untouched after Eren had taken the first crate up. Mikasa felt herself blush at the idea of Eren being so obsessed with protecting her, and steadily guiltier at the dawning realisation of why he shouted at her so much.

"I should've realised sooner. I'm sorry." Her empty expression and tone didn't waver, but Armin could feel the sorrow laced into her words.

"It's not your fault. Eren is complicated, and so are you. It's just a matter of misunderstanding, not a fault on your part, so no need to apologise. Especially not to me." He waved a hand, and she huffed a little more.

"Well…if it is just a misunderstanding, how do I make him understand?" Her voice was breaking a little. Armin shifted in his seat again, putting his hand against her back.

"Someone else is talking to Eren at the moment. When the time is right for him, he'll apologise. And you can talk to him properly about this. For now, you just need to think about your own feelings on the matter."

"How do you know he'll apologise?"

Armin smirked. "Remember, we've been best friends since he was four. I know he feels guilty when he does things like this, he's just way too much of a stubborn bastard to admit it at the moment. When he's been given a chance to think about it properly, he'll come around."

Mikasa looked as though she was about to protest…but she thought better of it.

"Thank you." She murmured meekly. Armin nodded, and without another word, he left the room. On the way through the hallway, he passed Sasha going up the stairs.

"You going to talk to Eren?" He inquired, and she nodded quickly, another potato in hand.

"I just went to take another…break." She said with a cheeky grin. Armin looked at the potato, and couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips.

"You do realise that as soon as the Lance Corporal finds out that you are sneaking food out of the kitchen, he'll basically have you scrubbing the ground he walks on, right?" Armin folded his arms, and she put on an expression of mock defiance.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Connie. Nobody has caught _me _in the act since Shadis." She threw the potato up in the air and caught it again, taking a big bite out of the side. Armin chuckled a little more, before regaining a more serious disposition.

"Anyway, if you're ready, go and have a word with Eren. Those boxes haven't moved, so he's probably still upstairs somewhere. I've spoken to Mikasa, so I need you to convince Eren to apologise. Shouldn't be too hard."

Sasha nodded again, and disappeared up the stairs.

As Armin walked into the kitchen to meet Jean and Connie who were idly chatting away, he reflected on how crazy it was that even in the middle of a war with all number of monsters, he was still playing peacemaker between his two best friends like he had been doing since they were ten.

"_The more things change, the more they stay the same."_

* * *

Eren was currently sat, head in hands, on top of the box of supplies he had managed to haul up the stairs. He was in his own new room, shared with Armin, Jean and Connie. He ran his hands through his hair, a frustration dominating his emotions to the point where he felt nauseous at the thought of going down to get that second box. Eren turned to his side and thumped a fist into the wall, leaving a surprisingly large crack.

It didn't help, just hurt his hand a lot. But even though he was on his own, he refused to show that it caused him pain at all.

"Why does any of this ever have to happen?!" He shouted to himself, stomping a boot hard into the creaky wooden floorboards. In his anger, he nearly missed the tentative knock at the door.

His ears seemed to perk a little, as he wondered at who it might be.

"Connie, Jean and Armin would probably just come in, it is their room as well. Historia doesn't want to talk to anyone, Levi is at odds with us all, so that leaves Sasha and…Mikasa."

"Eren? Are you in there?" The voice was feminine, but too high pitched to be Mikasa's voice. He felt his tense muscles relax, and he let out the breath he had been holding in.

"Yeah, come in." He spoke without turning towards the door. The handle clicked, and Sasha moved cautiously into the room, pushing the door shut quickly behind her. She moved a little awkwardly towards Eren, who still had his back to her. She thought about putting a hand on his shoulder, but decided against it. Instead choosing to sit on the sheet-less mattress Eren was facing, under the window the overlooked the front of the house. There was a slightly tense silence for a few moments.

"What's the problem?" Eren wasn't trying to sound mean, but he ended up doing it anyway. He pulled his face up from his hand and leant his chin on it.

"I saw what happened with Mikasa." She blurted out quickly. He continued to stare at her, cutting into her slightly with his steely eyes.

"Yeah. And?"

Sasha bit her bottom lip a little.

"I just…figured I might be able to help you out." She spoke lightly, bracing herself to be shouted at.

Eren just looked at her incredulously. Of all people, Sasha was the one trying to help him out. It was extremely odd to him that she would care enough about his inner turmoil to want to help him.

"Yeah…yeah, okay." He was a little warmer to the idea than she'd initially thought, taking her off guard a little.

"Really? Okay then…why did you shout at her like you did?" She started off warily, still being careful of her words. She didn't want Eren to throw a fit at her as well.

"It's because…I don't know…maybe I'm just overreacting…" He stumbled, and Sasha gave him a kind look, tapping him lightly on the shoulder so that he would face her properly.

"It's okay, Eren, you can say whatever. I won't tell anybody anything, and I'm not gonna judge you for it." She spoke calmly, trying to make him feel at ease. He gave a slight nod, and took a moment.

"I get angry cause of how much she babies me. She always has to try and do what I'm doing, and can never mind her own. It annoys me that I can't seem to do anything anymore without her deciding that she has to help me, and I get that she just wants to help, and protect me, but I don't need protecting! I'm the one that's supposed to be protecting Mi—"

Eren's words caught in his throat, his face turning a virulent shade of crimson. He cast his eyes down to the floor again before continuing.

"…It doesn't help that she's so much better than me at everything. It makes me so mad when I can't do shit to help her, and it's like she doesn't even need me. I care about her so much, but she makes me so angry…Fuck, I can't…" He slammed his hands into his head, and groaned to himself. Sasha leaned in a little to him.

"Eren…if you really care about her, then I think you should start showing it more often."

Eren didn't look up, but nodded in a way that prompted her to keep going.

"All I've seen you do lately is get angry at her for no reason. Maybe you understand why you're angry, but she doesn't, and it's unfair on her when she cares about you so much and you just act like she just irritates you."

"But how?! How do I do that without feeling so inferior to her, like so much of a dead weight?!" He yelled at the floor. Sasha knew he was more angry at himself than anyone else.

"Eren, you aren't a dead weight. Just because she's a really good soldier, doesn't mean you can't be. If you train hard enough, you can match her easily. Remember back in training, when you managed to balance on your harness even though it was broken? You worked for that! Just because something doesn't come to you naturally, doesn't mean you can't do it. That's what I learned when I saw you do that. You prove your worth constantly, you just aren't looking at it like that because you're so obsessed with this! So for Gods sakes, pull your head out of your ass!" Sasha stood up and pulled him up with him. He looked annoyed, but realisation dawned on him the more he thought about it.

"I…I… …I just…I've…"

"Eren, stop wallowing in self pity and go and say sorry to your girlfri—to Mikasa! Go…go and say sorry to Mikasa."

He nodded quickly, and pushed himself away from her grip, moving towards the door.

"I gotta go and think."

* * *

Mikasa woke up drenched in cold sweat, panting heavily from panic.

Another nightmare.

She wiped a hand across her face and pushed her bed sheets away, her eyes rimmed with red, and her skin even paler than usual. The room was warm, and the humidity invaded her mind, clouding her thoughts. She rubbed her eyes, deciding that fresh air might help a little. Mikasa slipped off the bed and onto the wooden floor, and pulled her shirt and tights on. She observed the sleeping forms of Sasha and Historia. Historia was rigid and had confined herself to the end of her bed furthest away from anyone, while Sasha was splayed out completely, snoring heavily. She left the room swiftly, moving so as not to disturb anyone else in their sleep. The stairs were silent under her carefully placed steps, not a sound to alert anyone of her presence. She cracked the door open, and pressed a bare foot to the grass outside, pulling herself through the small opening hastily shutting the door behind her.

The night was cloudless, the pale eye of the moon glowing faintly in the dark skies, nestled amongst the bed of stars that dotted themselves every where like fireflies.

Peace like this was the kind of thing Mikasa craved. As she sat down on the step up to the cabin, she noticed that all of the crates from before were gone.

"Captain Levi probably did it."

Eren still hadn't said a word to her all night. When everyone had eaten dinner, he had looked entrenched deep in his own thoughts, chewing furiously and finishing his food quickly. Even when Jean had made a snide comment on his odd behaviour, he hadn't responded. And that had made her worried.

She sighed, sadness overtaking her body. Mikasa had to wonder at why things couldn't be the way they had before. She wished with all of her heart that the Eren she had grown up with was still there. And even after everything Armin had said, she still couldn't help but feel that—

_Creeaaaaaaaaaak._

Mikasa nearly jumped out of her skin when the door behind her opened. She didn't know who she expected to be there, but she turned around with fists raised…

…And immediately dropped them. Her heart leapt to her throat.

"Eren?" She managed to choke out. Eren didn't make eye contact, instead choosing to look down at the floor. They stood still like that for a few moments. Mikasa finally worked up the nerve to point next to the step, and take a seat. Eren followed, dropping down roughly next to her. His chestnut fringe hung forlornly over his face, lips turned down and eyes cast to the floor.

"Eren, how come you're out—"

"I'm sorry." He didn't let her finish.

"Sorry for…sorry for what?" She played dumb.

"Sorry for everything. For treating you like shit the way I do."

Mikasa moved to interrupt him, but he held his hand up.

"Yeah. You do annoy me sometimes. When you try to help me because I can't do something by myself, I feel weak. I hate feeling weak, like I can't protect you. Like I'm worthless."

"Eren, you aren't—"

"I'm not done yet. I hate feeling like that, but I only feel like that because I do that to myself. I'm not weak, you're just strong. So I'm going to be stronger. For both of us. For everyone here. I owe them as much. I will become stronger, and I will destroy the titans, more than any of you ever will. I will be strong, and we will live and fight as equals." His gaze directed to her, and she saw the fiery passion in his eyes, and the heat melted her away.

"You're forgiven."

Those two words sent relief flooding through Eren's body. He leant back against the wall with less stiff awkwardness. They sat there in silence for a while, lost in their thoughts, comfortable with each others company. Mikasa suddenly felt warmth being wrapped around her, and she turned to see the red material Eren was holding in his hands.

"Your scarf. I thought it might be cold out when I saw you from my window, so I figured you'd need it."

She was at a loss for words. Instead of thanking him, Mikasa put her hands up and grasped at his, linking them together. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. A blush crept its way up both of their necks, but at that moment, it didn't matter.

They could have said more. They could have spoken long into the night about their wants and needs and hopes. But for now, this was all they needed.

Eren moved his arm around Mikasa, pulling her closer into him. His hair fell onto her forehead, tickling her face slightly, and she buried herself deeper into his chest.

They could've said more. But they didn't need to.

* * *

"Oh for fucks sake."

Levi grumbled to himself, witnessing the sleeping forms of Jaeger and Ackerman entangled with each other just to the right of the front door. He walked down the step, and kicked Eren lightly in the ribs a few times. The boy's eyes flickered open, and he put a hand to his chest and coughed a little. The notion of pain soon disappeared when he saw the Lance Corporal looming over him.

There was a moment of horribly tense silence. Levi narrowed his eyes at Eren as Mikasa snuggled into him a little further.

"Now…I think I can explain this."

"Oh please, by all means."

* * *

**I was unsure wether or not I should do this for a while, but then I read chapter 50 of the manga, and then I was like "...Yep." And got writing straight away. So, thanks for reading this tripe, and if you would like, drop a review! Always helps. **

**Bye for now!**


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